As I look at the probable match ups for the post season I’m struck by the West. On one end of the draw you have the Warriors who are prohibitive favorites despite all their weaknesses which come from all the disparate personalities, injury worries, and that ineffable thing called chemistry. Skipping over Denver here to make my comparison neatly, the other side of the draw contains a Houston which is a three point metronome which prompts the question: How can D’Antoni, the guy who led the run and gun Suns end up with this sort of strategy? It’s all about the three point math, but definitely not the kind that excites you. This is odds making math, poker hand math, repeat every possession math.
And what does that remind me of? All those Jazz/Bulls confrontations in the 90’s which were marked by Jerry Sloan teams who executed the pick and roll with such beauty that it was occasionally easy to overlook just how monotonous it became. Meanwhile the Bulls were this fantasmagoric mass of personalities and epochal talent that always seemed to gel or find another tool to bring the Jazz down. Maybe this time consistency will win, maybe we won’t even get that far if the Nuggets do the job but the comparison sure is eery right down to Kerr who was one of those of the bench tools for those Bulls teams.